Comments

At this point, I actually bet our O-linemen CAN block! If you give our guys a gameplan that isn't so blitheringly predictable, then those defensive players aren't firing off exactly where they KNOW the play is going right after the snap.

If the defense has a split second of hesitation or doubt, that's all the time our O-linemen need get the jump on them and gain leverage. If our guys aren't constantly being outnumbered and out-slanted then I bet they would be able to execute most of their blocks just fine!

People claim "reduce the playbook as the players aren't getting it" after the first 4 games. Guess what, they actually did that, not because fans told them to but because it was the right idea. Well, they still aren't having great success, but now people are claiming for an expanded play book.

After the first 4 games people said, "Give DG easier reads/passes" and Borges has done such to get some of his confidence back. Now people are saying to not run the football and let DG throw all the time as if he didn't have 3 turnovers in this very game in agreement with his past.

I'm not saying that Borges is perfect, but people want it every way but the way that they saw didn't work. Well, I'm sure after it happened Borges would have wanted it a bit differently too. But everyone just changing the argument doesn't make them right. The OL is and has been the issue, dating back to last year. Some of that is youth, there is some leeway there that I have given Funk, but he hasn't developed them to even where they should be with youth.

It's the blatant predictability and total lack of adjustment that bother us. You can't run against 8 in the box with 6 blockers, it's not going to work, yet even Penn State knew that Borges was so fucking stubborn he would try, they stacked 8 in the box against 6. They left a mediocre to bad secondary out on an island because they were so confident Borges had NOTHING to counter them just throwing extra bodies into the box.

And as much as it sucks to watch, a lot of people should, particularly the first half when Borges wasn't trying to bleed clock. Michigan ran into 1, maybe 2 lines where the defense had an advantage in the box, and neither of those times did they have a numbers advantage playside. This isn't meant to be a "you're completely wrong", I think people are generally forgetting what really happened most of the game.

People are cherry picking isolated events, putting them in a vacuum, and claiming that's the full picture when it's not necessarily.

If RR were still coach, the QB on every play would have looked over at the sideline for a potential audible (OSU audibles into hitches and screens several times per game under Meyer). They could have taken advantage of the way PSU was lining up in the second half but seemingly don't even have the basic structures (the ability to audible and the necessary plays) available in the offense to do that. This is frustrating...I understand that Borges does some things well, but everyone would understand being frustrated with a basketball coach who simply refused to allow passes to his small forward no matter the circumstance. That's Borges.

You say "there is some leeway there that I have given Funk, but he hasn't developed them to even where they should be with youth". Did you see something specific in the PSU game that has shifted your opinion? If so would you explain what that was? If not would you explain what you expected to see by now and why at this point your opinion seems to have changed.

You're running power and your center targets the wrong guy. That's your base play and your center of all people is doing it wrong.

Your pulling and your puller flat out whiffs a LB, not even touching him, and that complete miss is the difference between 10 yards and 4 yards.

OGs consistently making poor fundamental mistakes with their feet on zone stretch and not getting their hat on the playside of the defender's hat.

It's these simple things that are not getting done that are getting irritating to me. I get pass pro mistakes, those will happen with youth. I get occassionally not picking up your assignment, it happens sometimes, people mess up. I get not coming off combo blocks well at times, that's youth. But consistently missing guys, not blocking the right guys, not getting leverage... I really didn't expect these things to be good at this point, I expected them to be pretty bad at this point, but they still have improved to pretty bad.

Now, that said, I would be fine with Funk coming back next year. I think next year is the tell all. Sometimes it takes a little longer for things to click with some players. Because he has been with Hoke, he's an important part of recruiting, and he has performed in the past, I'll not be fed up when he's kept around at year end, because the youth excuse is very real to an extent. But he's riding right at the edge of that extent still being valid.

I'm certainly no coach and don't claim to be expert at football, but I have to think breaking in a new center and two new guards at the same time is compounding the problems. If each one of them makes a mistake every sixth play that could mean half your plays have a glaring mistake (there is, of course, the possibility that two or even all three screw up at the same time). I also think Taylor Lewan has been playing injured most of the season. He was wearing a boot at one point, and he never returned in the PSU game. I realize that linemen almost all have aches, pains, and minor injuries over the course of the season, but Lewan doesn't seem like he's playing at the same level he did last year.

While it's clear to me that some flexibility on Borges' part would be helpful, I'm starting to wonder if the overall youth on offense, and especially the middle of the offensive line, limits his comfort with beating creative.

It's similar to what was happening against UConn. Guys sometimes got to their blocks, but then their technique didn't give them any push, because of leverage, hands, feet, whatever. They found the guy they were supposed to block then essentially didn't block them.

Borges basically blamed the problem on the personnel. WHAT!?!? How about the fact that your dumbass gameplan had 6 blockers trying to block 8 guys in the box who were all running RIGHT TO THE BALL on the snap!?!?!

This jerk is exactly like RR blaming his team's defensive failures on his personnel.

Go watch the Packers game from last Sunday. They literally had 2 healthy WR's in the 2nd half and still had a 100 yard rusher. Why? Because they kept the Ravens honest by continuing to pass which opened the run.

The bubble screen is not a "fix-all," but it acts as an adjustment given what the defense is presenting to you - an adjustment that Borges refuses to make. Giving a WR 2v2 on the outside with a blocker and already having a 10-yd cushion seems more likely to succeed than our power rushing attack which continues to do literally nothing. It takes the OL out of things and will obviously keep the defense a bit more honest and less likely to completely stack the box.

Even if people are going to be reactionary and emotional, which fine I get because that's sports, can some of you try not to be such fucking assholes? I'm sure that Borges doesn't enjoy it when the offense is crappy and I'm sure he's working his ass off. By all accounts he's a good, nice guy. Even if you don't like his offense, at least be civil.

We can never make fun of the Spartans for "Spartying" it up on RCMB if this is how we're going to react every time we lose a game. I mean, we could still make fun of them, but it would make us look like a bunch of massive douche-nozzles totally lacking any kind of self-awareness (which is another hallmark of "those kind" of Michigan State fans).

I understand complaining but this is so far beyond complaining. It's also just generally embarrassing behavior overall regardless of circumstance.

We lost on the road to a decent Penn State team in 4OTs.

Yes, it sucked.

Yes, we should have won.

No, we were not going to go undefeated this year.

We're still 5-1, which is a good record for this team.

We are still going to win 9 games (which is what I and I believe most other people predicted).

We are still firmly in the hunt to win our division and possibly a Big Ten title.

Yes, all of those things being true doesn't change the fact that losing sucks.

This attitude that is becoming pervasive around here, that we need to have a complete meltdown when Michigan doesn't win every game by 20 points, let alone losing a game (something that happens to almost every single team, sometimes every single team, in any given season) is totally absurd.

We don't need to fire half of our coaching staff mid-way through the season.

We don't need to bench half of our starters, including our quarterback, mid-way through the season.

We are a team most people pegged for 9 wins at the start of the season sitting at 5-1 at the half way point.

Yes, we have issues, but we're OK, and our issues certainly don't merit the level of vitrol and visciousness that is being directed at certain coaches and players by asshole fans.

But chalking this up to frustration with one game is simply inaccurate. There are a lot of people on this board who hung with RR to the bitter end, but we will vent our frustrations when we see something not working but being tried ad nauseum...I hope that your prediction re: winninng 9 games is right, but you can't just say, "they're going to win 9, so stop worrying." You don't know that, and the season is about to become a lot more treacherous.

You said, and I block quoted your words, that we don't need to bench half our starters. If you believe that then you disagree in principle with what Borges said. He led off the presser with his pledge to re-open competition. He is open to benching the starters.

I ask you now - do you understand that point? Do you understand that your statements aren't reacting to what Borges said? In fact your statements aren't reacting to the football that Michigan has played of late. You are reacting to the reaction of the board- which doesn't push the envelope one bit.

I am a fan. I'm passionate about it. I don't like losing. I hate losing when we play poorly. This most recent game goes beyond that. We played not to lose. Coaching is an issue here. If you would watch these pressers and offer an argument to the contrary derived from them then I would be grateful. Instead you sir are trifling with a fan's passion - which is rightfully disheartened with the play in three of the last four games.

I'm not for firing coaches mid season, but I am for coaches who take responsibility for the way their team plays. Leaders take blame in defeat and give credit in victory.

A game? This is arguably the fifth time Borges has cost us a game with his play calling over the last three years. I get that some people, including myself, may be overreacting, but you're completely overreacting in the opposite direction. Maybe he shouldn't get fired today, but it's certainly come to a point where it's a valid discussion AND a reasonable option.

2 losses, if one of them comes to MSU or Nebraska, virtually nullifies any hope of a Big Ten Championship. The difference between 6-6 and 10-2 is just bookkeeping at this point. This staff needs to pull out all the stops against MSU on November 2.

Congratulations. Along with "Credence Tapes" I'd like to give you the "Glass is 0.031% full!" award for this thread.

Do you really think DeBord's "genius" had that much to do with the '97 championship? That was a low-complexity offense that any number of guys could have run. UMich had a very good year largely because it had NFL talent in all the position groups, highlighted by a once-in-a-lifetime DB. More NFL talent than Nebraska, in fact. (Few people realize this.)

DeBord was also a guy who, among other things, left a tire fire at CMU.

I suppose that you could have led an offense that won a national championship? Tell me. When did it happen? When did you win the Madden Crown? Did they give you a trophy, or was it one of those BW3's half-banner things?

Part of me feels bad for Borges because I'm sure it's a frustrating spot to be in. Then I remember that he makes a half million a year and that there are people who deal with much more frustration and stress every day of their lives, and I don't feel that bad any more.

Being one of the guys you'd probably accuse of doing that, it isn't really the isssue at all.

As has been said by me and those of my ilk, ad nauseam, you are free to complain, just don't be a complete dick hole.

Seriously, is it that hard to just not be a raging cuntbag, or is that impossible for some of you?

There is complaining, and then there is being a complete asshole who is either consistently negative about everything or who consistently blows everything out of proportion ( i.e., "FIRE EVERYONE!" "PULL THEIR SCHOLARSHIPS!").

Also, frankly, fans policing other fans has been a hallmark of this board and is one of the reasons people have enjoyed coming here over the years.

I don't care if it's online or in real life, if you're being a complete and total asshole (especially with regard to sports) you deserve to get called out and told to kindly shut the fuck up.

After watching this I have no words. Wow. How has this guy been a coordinator at this level for almost 3 decades?

He says we got away from the power in the second half and threw the ball more, created some big plays... Lol wow.

Other part that bothered me is he changes subject to how great Devin and his footwork are and that he had no worries about him leading the team back yet never thought about going for the win with a TD...

The whole time he keeps itching / rubbing his chest. I thought he was having a heart attack.